Posts filed as “US family finance”
Making capitalism out of lemons
Today's discerning parents insist lemonade stands teach children lessons about capitalism – can't we all just have fun?
Let's take a moment to praise the humble lemonade stand.
Defending the nation's young merchants of lemonade is something of an annual tradition for me. Last year, I did a spoken commentary for American Public Media's Marketplace Money, protesting the number of lemonade consumers who were less than happy that my 12-year-old son...Read more.
Attend your lavish wedding? With what money?
The average cost of a 2013 wedding is up 5% from last year to $28,427 – and that's not counting the $539 guests pay to attend
• Guests, tell us: Have you ever been a victim of the Wedding Industrial Complex?
Last year, I wrote an article speculating that maybe, just maybe the low-key backyard nuptials of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan had driven a stake through...Read more.
Attend your lavish wedding? With what money?
The average cost of a 2013 wedding is up 5% from last year to $28,427 – and that's not counting the $539 guests pay to attend
• Guests, tell us: Have you ever been a victim of the Wedding Industrial Complex?
Last year, I wrote an article speculating that maybe, just maybe the low-key backyard nuptials of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan had driven a stake through...Read more.
If you have to celebrate National Princess Week, don’t buy the goods
Disney princesses are a $4bn industry – but parents, hold onto your wallets and read your kids a book on Elizabeth I instead
National Princess Week is just about upon us. Parents, hold on to your wallets.
No, National Princess Week is not a celebration of the former Kate Middleton, with London tourist shops holding giveaway sales on leftover wedding memorabilia, in order to clear it out in time for the...Read more.
Why ‘financial literacy’ is a bunch of hooey – and why the banks promote it | Helaine Olen
Companies and colleges say that if we all understand our finances, financial crises won't happen. This is simply untrue
April is National Financial Capability Month. You know what that means. We will be subject to many a tedious lecture, telling us how the financial crisis would not have happened if only those darn, irresponsible Americans knew how to handle their funds. And, of course, we'll believe it.
Almost all of us are...Read more.
Do as I say, not as I do: Michelle Rhee and the public education paradox
Education activist argues for radical change in public schools but sends her children to private school, like many other officials
Our personal finances play an all-but-unspoken role in how our children are educated. In the United States, we fund public education via local property taxes. This means the more expensive the neighborhood real estate, the more likely that the children living there will attend a school with decent teacher-student ratios and...Read more.
About Helaine Olen
I am the voice of The Bills, a column about the intersection of money and life, at Slate. At Inc., I contribute to the Spread the Wealth personal finance column. My work on politics, economics, workplace culture and women’s issues has been published in numerous other print and on-line publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, Pacific Standard, and The Los Angeles Times, where I wrote and edited the popular “Money Makeover” feature.
I'm the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, and The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to be so Complicated, which I co-wrote with Harold Pollack.
What else? I’m a passionate bibliophile, a fan of 1970s pop music and a lover of rummage sales. I live in New York City.
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